Millions of people watch a television show about a little girl named Honey Boo Boo. People win the Super Lotto. My boss once had a good idea.

The Chargers could still make the playoffs.

Mathematically, with six games remaining, it is possible.

There are seven days in a week, so I also suppose it's mathematically possible I could get my wife to stay awake even one of those nights. Y'know, to talk about her feelings.

In the visitors’ locker room late Sunday night in Denver, safety Eric Weddle took exception to the suggestion that it would take a miracle for the Chargers to make the playoffs.

I respect Weddle on a level I've rarely respected any athlete I’ve covered. But when he was talking about the Chargers needing to win every game, it sure sounded to me like he was describing a miracle.

Lest you think Weddle was getting ahead of himself, this was what he said several times as well: “We’ve just got to go out and put a win together.”

Singular.

Also easier said than done, evidently.

One of the characters in Lord of the Rings said, “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” Well, forgive me, but I think in this case, Mark Twain was more apt: “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”

I don’t fault Weddle or anyone else for keeping the faith. What would you rather the Chargers do, give up, the way some teams do?

But I’ve been taught to test my faith, and this team has yet to pass a single test.

The Chargers have lost five of their past six games and six straight against everyone but the Kansas City Chiefs. Do you realize the last time the Chargers beat a team other than the 1-9 Chiefs was the Tennessee Titans in Week 2?

Not once this season have the Chargers beat a team that currently possesses even a .500 record. Their strength of victory, which takes into account the winning percentage of the opponents a team has beaten, is worst in the NFL (.225).

Those kind of facts are a kick to faith’s groin. It’s not that the devout among the Chargers are in doubt. It’s just that recent events have put a realistic tint on their shared optimism.

“We really can’t worry about the big picture where we stand … We can’t worry about that,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “We’ve got to go try to win a game. At this point, to talk playoffs is not appropriate.”

Certainly not with the AFC North gauntlet coming up.

The Chargers’ next three games are at home against Baltimore (8-2) and Cincinnati (5-5) and then at Pittsburgh (6-4).

"The wild card is out there,” Weddle said. “It’s not like any team is running away with it. We still have big games against those teams that are in the wild card race.”

Yes, in a race in which six teams make the playoffs, the Chargers currently sit in the eighth position. Directly ahead of them are Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Don’t blame Weddle for knowing the standings. If everyone could know the standings and also play like Weddle, the Chargers would be significantly better.

“Until they say the Chargers aren’t in the playoffs,” he said, “you can’t say we’re out.”